Terms of Reference Review of the focus and methodology of the United Nations E- Government Survey

Transcription

1 Terms of Reference Review of the focus and methodology of the United Nations E- Government Survey Background The 2016 United Nations E-Government Survey, launched in July 2016, marks the eighth edition of the flagship publication of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in benchmarking e-government development achieved by all Member States of the UN 1. The ultimate objective of the survey has been to promote the use of e-government as a way to support development and improve people s well being. The survey is based on the understanding that the e-government improves the quality and access to government services; supports participation, transparency, and accountability; helps to improve coordination in government; contributes to social equity as well as to managing the risk of disasters or reducing carbon emissions. Thus, as reflected in the 2003 edition, the survey aims to be a tool at the disposal of the government, which, if applied effectively, can contribute substantially to promoting human development. The survey pursues this objective by giving an indicative assessment of the diffusion of e- government through a performance rating of national governments relative to one another. It is not designed to capture e-government development in an absolute sense,. The E-Government Survey presents the ranking of e-government development across 193 United Nations Member States by assessing e-government development according to a quantitative composite index of e-readiness based on Online Service, Telecommunication Infrastructure, and Human Capital Indexes. The idea is to provide decision makers with information that enables them to identify how they compare with other countries in egovernment development, understand their areas of strengths and challenges, as well as consider suggested options on how best to move ahead. The Survey is a flagship recurrent publication of DPADM/UNDESA and has been published at regular intervals since Evolution of the Survey In March 2001, at the Third Global Forum on Reinventing Government with the theme Fostering Development through E-government, participants from 122 nations congregated to share best practices, information and ideas related to e-government 2. The response far exceeded general expectations given the embryonic development of e-government and the limited understanding of its scope and potential at that point. The Forum was followed by the first attempt of UNDESA to benchmark e-government development through a research publication in 2001 entitled Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective -- Assessing the UN Member States, which analysed the approach, progress and commitment 1 The first seven editions were published in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA, "3rd Global Forum on Reinventing E-Government," 1

2 on the part of the UN Member States 3. The methodology of the e-government survey has evolved over the years as the context and use of e-government evolved and its understanding improved. In the second edition of the Survey (2003), the methodology that was used in the 2001 publication was strengthened substantially and quantitatively to produce the e-government development index (EGDI) 4,5. The conceptual framework of the EGDI is based on a holistic view of e-government development that incorporates three components: provision of online services through a quantitative survey assessment, availability of telecommunication connectivity and the level of human capacity. This same methodology has been adopted in the subsequent seven editions of the Survey. The 2004 and 2005 editions of the Survey captured the state of a country s readiness for e- government. However, in 2008, readiness was not deemed to adequately reflect the need for concrete implementation on the grounds, the publication changed its focus from assessing readiness to assessing actual development. In 2014, it was considered that the view of e-government maturity no longer holds as e-government goals and targets are constantly evolving to deliver and surpass what the public expects 6. In 2016, the theme was E-Government as an Enabler of Sustainable Development. The Survey has given a lot of attention thus far to assessing central government portals including the national portal, e-services portal and e-participation portal, as well as the websites of the ministries of education, labour, social services, health, finance and environment and other related ministries as applicable. UNDESA/DPADM recognizes that the analysis contained in the survey has very much focused on line services development at the expense of the other two components of the EGDI, namely the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index and Human Capital Index. Another perceived shortcoming is that the survey looks mainly at the supply side and not at the usage of the services and citizen satisfaction. Its component on services draws mainly from an analysis of portal, rather than from information provided directly by governments. There are also broader questions on how to make sure that the survey keeps up with the major changes that have been taking place in the area of sustainable development and ICT. Changing context: Major changes have occurred since the first survey was issued: - The United Nations Member States adopted the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sutainable Development with 17 Sustainable Development Goals addressing the multiple facets of development. Leave no one Behind and eradicating poverty are overarching principles of the Agenda. The General Assembly conducted the ten year review of the World Summit on the Information Society late Since the first survey was launched, countries have increasingly embraced e- government, as the survey itself documents. There has been an evolution in the 3 Note: The assessment of e-government was based on state-provided information on their online services. 4 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA, "World Public Sector Report: E-Government at the Crossroads," (2003): 9. Note: There were 191 UN Member States at the point of assessment in Note: The current methodology of the UN E-Government Survey was first adopted in 2003, and has been used with slight tweaking in subsequent editions of the Survey in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and A different methodology was used in the 2001 edition of the Survey. 6 UNDESA, "United Nations E-Government Survey E-Government for the Future We Want ". 2

3 3 conceptual approach to e-government with a growing number of countries and researchers focusing on digital government. - ICT is being used in highly innovative ways to deliver health, education and other services, support urban planning, gather and analyze data and big data. The use Government makes of ICT to deliver public services and other functions appears to have expanded way beyond the use of their portals.` - We have seen a revolution in the area of ICT. New technologies have emerged, with cloud computing and the internet of things. The use of mobile devices has grown exponentially. All this has deep implications for legislation, regulations, systems, societies, economies, privacy and security. - Social Media are being used by millions of people and internet is spreading rapidly. Meanwhile, In many countries, much use is being made of SMS and traditional phones - Many services are delivered at local level in many countries. These changes call for evaluating the continued relevance of the survey, the appropriateness of its focus and methodology and for reflecting on how to improve the survey. Purpose of the consultancy: An independent consultant will be engaged by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) to review the current relevance and methodology of the United Nations E-Government Survey. The purpose of this consultancy is to answer the following question: In today s context, should the focus, approach and methodology of the survey be adjusted so that the survey realizes its objective (to promote the mobilization of ICT and e- government for realizing the SDGs)? How can the survey best support the realization of the SDGs for all segments of society? In other words, is the survey looking at the right thing? And, depending on the answer, how should its focus and methodology be adjusted? In order to answer these questions, the consultant will need to address the following issues: 1. What does e-government mean today? What are the main modalities for delivering services to people via ICT and internet? What have been the critical trends in ICT and e-government and what are the main issues and challenges today? 2. Is the purpose of the survey still fully relevant today? Are other publications addressing the same objective? 3. How can ICT and e-government best advance the SDGS and targets and leave no one behind? How can the survey make the greatest contribution to realizing the SDGs today? 4. What should the survey focus on in general - both in 2018 and in future years? Is the focus on central government portals still warranted? How can the survey capture the most recent trends? 5. How can the survey better capture the various ICT-based delivery of public services, service delivery at local level, use and satisfaction with on-line services and other important dimensions? 6. What have been the limitations of its scope and methodology thus far? 7. Is the EGDI still relevant? If so how can it be adjusted? 8. How should the methodology of the survey be changed if needed?

4 The findings of the consultant will be presented to the management team of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. They will help to improves the relevance, methodology and content of the next e-government survey. Activities, Expected Outputs and Milestones Under the overall guidance of the Chief of the e-government Branch and the Director of the Division, the Consultant will assist and support the execution of following tasks: 1. Provide an analysis of what ICT for development and e-government mean today in light of the major changes and issues in the area of ICT and of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2. In this light, reflect on the contribution and purpose of the e-government survey and provide suggestions on what its main focus and content should be today including on whether the focus should remain on central government portals. 3. Help prepare an online survey to solicit feed-back from Member States and other stakeholders on their expectations for future Suveys, working closely with the consultant and DPADM staff; and analyze the results of the survey 4. Provide options for the approach to the 2018 e-government survey, notably:.: a. One option should be to keep largely the current approach, but introduce improvements the E-Government Development Indicator and to the survey as a whole. The consultant should detail such possible improvements. This would include making proposals for addressing today s major issues and trends in ICT for sustainable development within the current approach, improving the questionnaire, stages of e-government, measuring online services, stages of e-participation, and the relevance of current indices taken from ITU (Telecommunication Infrastructure Index) and UNESCO (Human Capital Index).. One issue would be how to assess usage and user satisfaction of online public service delivery, how to assess public services delivered at local level and the pros and cons of disclosing the questionnaire; b. Another option may be to change more radically the focus and approach of the survey. The consultant should provide proposals in this regard including an analysis on how to ensure the rigour, objectivity and scientific nature of the analysis, the possible methodology and the possible development of indicators. The proposals should be based on a good knowledge of current publications in this area. 5. Reflect on the future approach/methodology for gathering information and data for the survey, and whether to collect information from governments and other sources rather than only relying on an analysis of the government portals, bearing in mind the above scenarios. 6. Review the ICT related indicators in the current SDG global Indicators framework and others. Analyze whether and how the Survey could contribute to the review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), particularly Action line C7 on e-government. Consider whether these indicators could be incorporated/reflected into the 2018 Survey 7. Produce a report on the above analysis and research. 4

5 5 8. Present findings and documents in an expert group meeting (EGM) through a background paper in order to frame and aid the meeting s deliberations. 9. Consolidate comments and feedback from experts during the meeting, engage in discussions and produce a final Report on the expert group meeting. 10. Based on above work, and deliberations of the EGM, identify priority areas and ways to improve the methodology of the 2018 Survey and future surveys, including areas for deeper analysis, and how to ensure continuity with earlier surveys while improving the methodology Prepare a sign-off document describing the lessons learnt in the above process and make precise recommendations to be addressed in the next versions of the Survey. The consultation will be supplemented by another consultation focused in more details on the evaluation of past surveys. The two consultants will work in tandem. Expected Outputs include: 1) Brief note on the methodology to be adopted for the consultancy 2) Annotated outline for discussions, revised outline 3) Draft and revised questionnaire to gather feed back from stakeholders, working with another consultant 4) First draft of the report 5) Revised and final draft of evaluation report 6) Advice on the methodology for preparing the 2018 survey as the preparations of the survey proceed Qualifications, Experience and Skills University degree in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their use by governments and other actors in sustainable development; public policies, public administration, political science, international relations, development studies or other related disciplines; A minimum five years of extensive professional experience in research and analytical work related to Information and Communication Technologies, their use in sustainable development; e-government- digital government or similar areas with a focus in both developed and developing countries; Excellent writing skills in English and knowledge of quantitative approaches. Performance Indicators The performance of the Consultant will be measured by the following indicators: Timeliness of submissions Quality of analysis, recommendations/conclusions in the report: The analysis and the recommendations contained in the report should be of high quality, relevant, specific, simple and practical Practical nature of the report: the report s analysis and recommendations should be easily to translate into a methodology for preparing the E-government survey Informed nature of the report: the report should reflect the latest knowledge, ideas and trends in E-government. Readability of material: The report should be written in clear, accessible language with little academic or scientific jargon. It should make an easy reading Receptive/responsive to feed-back from experts and staff members. The feed-back

6 to be provided by DPADM/DESA to the initial draft report has to be analysed and reflected in the final version Terms of Payment The Consultant s fee will be commensurate with work experience, expected knowledge and expertise on e-government. Payments will be initiated upon successful completion or documented progress made on tasks as mentioned in the Terms of Reference. The Consultant will be paid in three parts upon certification from the Supervisor that the tasks have been satisfactorily carried out, as follows: 30% of the total fee will be made after the first 30 working days of the contract, upon presentation of an annotated outline and draft section of the report on tasks 1 and 2, as stated in this TOR a second payment of 30% of the total fee will be made upon presentation of the draft sections of the report on task 3, followed by 4 and then 5 and the draft report overall the final payment of the remaining 40% of the total fee will be made upon satisfactory completion of all other expected tasks and the revised report Languages Excellent writing skills in English is required (both oral and written). Knowledge of another official UN language will be considered an asset. Duration of Contract The proposed contract will be for 75 days between 1 March 2017 and 31 July Duty Station There is no specific duty station for this post. The Consultant is not required to work on UN premises, but must be available for supervisory and review meetings/teleconferences. Travel The consultant will travel to New York to present his/her findings at the Expert Group Meeting and spend a total of three days in May Travel costs, if applicable, to be obligated separately. Supervisor Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief E-Government Branch (EGB), Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) 6